The Offering
by wickedswarm
Summary: She woke up in the Box, which is a scary event in itself. But it was only when that box opened that the real nightmare began. {OC X Newt. Rated T for some graphic violence and depictions. I do not own the images used to make the cover.}
1. Part 1) Chapter 1

I woke up in an elevator, a crappy one at that. The metal grate underneath me was rusted and gritty against my hand as I pushed myself into a sitting position. There was nothing but darkness surrounding me, and if it weren't for the endless rattle of chains hauling the box up, I could guess that it would be completely silent as well.

"Wicked is good," someone said. Fear made me jump out of my skin, as I'd thought I was alone.

Those words echoed throughout the hollowed cave that was my mind. I remembered nothing, or rather, no one from my past life. But I knew what it felt like to swim under the summer sun and what it felt like to run through an open field without shoes on. But when I scoured my brain for any hint of a human face, even a name, there was nothing.

"Who's there?" I called out instead, knowing all too well that I was alone. The space around me was nearly empty, save for a large box that lay in the corner, reaching the ceiling. Once in a blue moon, the box would pass a set of flickering lights as it carried me upward. But, once the box rolled passed them, I was thrown back into a darkness that enclosed everything around me, but for some reason, I didn't mind the abyss.

In fact, I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

A figure flashed over my memory, but was gone too quickly to recognize. I squinted my eyes, drawing my brows together, trying to summon the image back from the seething depths of my mind. But I lost it just as the box halted suddenly.

Then I was blinded by a coursing white light from above as the roof opened up to reveal the sky. There was a dull, wet thump above me, but it was too bright to even look at what had made the sound. My eyes were closed and I held my arm above my head until they'd adjusted enough to allow me to see. And what I saw wasn't pleasant.

There was a body lying on top of the crate, blood spewing from open wounds. The smell of copper nauseated me as I stared on at the bloody bloated face of the dead boy. Horror crept to my stomach and I collapsed to my knees, retching onto the floor of the box.

I could hear screaming and panicked cries from the world above me as I lay there on my knees. My mind immediately flashed to the box in the corner. I pulled it out, somehow getting it to tip onto its side before wrenching the side of it open.

Inside was a sleek weapon, and I knew it well, despite the fact that I thought I knew nothing. Picking the weapon up out of the box, I aimed it at the corpse above me. And fired.

A bright white light erupted from the end of the transvice, heaven only knew how I remembered its name, and just like that, the boy was gone, along with parts and pieces of the grated roof. I peeked my head through the opening, only to see more carnage.

Monstrous creatures with disfigured, gelatinous bodies and metal legs towered over boys with only sticks and stones to defend themselves.

Instinct told me what to do.

I used the hidden cavity of the box as my hiding place as I readied my sniper-like weapon. Aim, pull the trigger and recharge. Aim, pull the trigger and recharge. I took the beasts down one at a time until the two or three that were left scurried back through a large opening in an even larger wall.

What was this place?

As I scanned my surroundings, finding slight amusement at the bewildered faces of the boys I'd rescued, I found my sight drawn to a shack-like building, which was the only real building that appeared to be in this place, aside from tents, lean-to's and poles sticking out of the ground with roofs.

What a strange place.

Just then, an odd sight caught my eye, three boys and, to my surprise, a girl scuttled out of the building. They joined in the confusion and their heads jolted around before a single, blaring alarm flared through the entirety of this walled-in place.

Every head turned to me.

I ducked down, fear striking threw me. And then it started. The weapon that I'd masterfully taken my enemy down with only moments ago started melting away. Into my skin. Within moments it had dissolved into my arm and was gone, leaving a strange six-letter mark in it's place.

WICKED.

WICKED is good.

Then, the darkness engulfed me as shadows began to appear overhead.


	2. Chapter 2

NEWT

"I thought they said that Teresa would be the last one!" Minho shouted over the din of the panicked crowd. We'd lost six boys and had eight in recovery. As well as the new girl.

Three greenies in a week, I looked at Gally, red as a tomato as he, too, tried to make his voice heard. I held up an arm and all went quiet. Alby was dead, so I guess that meant that I was in charge now.

I surveyed the faces of the boys around me, young, frightened. This was the biggest blow we'd had since the dark days when we'd first shown up in the maze.

"Guys, you're giving me a bloody headache," I said. A creek across the room drew my attention as Clint squeezed into the overflowing Homestead. He shuffled his way forward until he made it in front of me. I nodded and he spoke his mind.

"The girl, she's strange. She hardly breathes and she only passed out right as we got to her. We all saw those lights and those grievers evaporating into thin air. I think it was her--"

There was a scream, and every single person in the room froze in fear. It took only a moment for us to raise our weapons and turn back to fight those monsters again. 

But when we got outside, it wasn't a griever that made someone scream. The girl stood just outside the entrance to the med-jack tent, spinning around, she surveyed her surroundings. Her arm, covered in blood.

HEDY

I woke up in a new place, a roof of sticks overhead providing the only protection from the bright sunlight above. There were several boys around me, bleeding and in shock. Those monsters had done this, and, once again, my mind told me exactly what to do. 

I tore the sheet from my legs and stood up. Something began trickling down my arm and the tingly sensation only grew as medical tools and such seemed to ooze out of my skin. 

Strange, I thought as I went to work. Whatever substance that gun was made out of seemed to go right along with my thought process. And for some reason, that didn't even faze me. There were people who needed saving, now.

I descended upon the boy closest to me. His eyes were screwed shut in pain and he clutched his chest. One blow to his head knocked him out so I could do what I needed to. It was like I knew exactly what was wrong the very moment that I touched him. Broken rib or even ribs, punctured lung. 

I knew that even in a past life, I would have panicked in this situation. But I didn't, and more of the silvery substance oozed out of my skin and onto the boy's chest. Immediately, it soaked through his skin and I could hear it clicking and popping as it corrected his ribcage and mended was was broken. He gasped in his slumber and seemed to start breathing much easier. 

And when it was finished, the substance seemed to float out of his body to rejoin the rest of itself, buried in my arm. 

I moved on to the next patient.


	3. Chapter 3

**NEWT**

The girl stood stock still as she gazed at us, and I stumbled back a few paces as several boys filed out of the tent, sheer confusion evident on their faces as well as ours. These were the boys who, only an hour ago, had been to beaten up and broken to even stand. And now they had not a scratch on them.

The girl only smiled slightly as each boy passed her and nodded in what seemed like gratitude. This girl . . . . there really was something strange about her.

Before we knew it, every person had filed back into the Homestead, the girl and the boys who'd been injured included.

"Who and what are you," Gally sneered at the girl, who was not only the center of attention, but she was the center of the room, a two-foot circle of empty space between her and the Gladers.

"Gally--" Thomas started, but the girl only smiled.

"My name is Hedwig."

"Like the owl?" Minho asked in his usual, sarcastic tone.

"No, like the Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. She created a very efficient radio guidance system to aid in World War II," the girl laughed. "I don't even know how I remembered that."

"Do you remember anything else?" Gally interrogated, breaching the two-foot fear-barrier around her.

"Not really," she said shrugging her shoulders. Gally would have continued, but I stopped him.

"How did you do it?" I asked. The girl looked to me and smiled again.

"Do what?" She asked.

"Heal the boys and kill the grievers, that's never been done before, aside from the one Thomas outsmarted in the maze," I continued, my eyes baring into hers intently.

"With this," She replied, holding up her arm, displaying the letters that came up stamped on the boxes. WICKED. The silvery lettering was curious at first, but then it began bleeding a silvery liquid into her hand. It didn't drip to the ground, it only formed into a pen, the rest being reabsorbed.

"What _are_ you?" I asked in fearful disbelief. Her eyes went the same silvery color as the pen she'd formed oozed back into her skin.

"I'm the Offering."


	4. Chapter 4

**NEWT**

Every single person in the room froze as the girl's face seemed to transform into something more evil. Something more sinister. Her silver eyes almost glowed as she looked around at each of us individually before her eyes settled directly on me.

"Hello, Newt," she said, and I felt the hair raise on the back of my neck. The voice wasn't the girl's.

"We've sent this little . . . offering . . . to you as a type of peace offering. As you might have seen over the past few days, after killing the griever, Thomas unlocked something. We'd like to inform you that the grievers are programmed solely for destruction. Your destruction. And it is unlikely that you'll survive if you try to make it out. But not if you have her," the person that seemed to possess Hedwig's body made her smile wickedly before she took a few steps forward.

"Stay back," I said, the Gladers all on the defensive. She stopped, pausing only a moment more before she continued her speech.

"Hedy is the ultimate weapon, and she will help you in ways you won't understand. Not yet. Take good care of her, Newt, we're placing her under your watchful eye," and with that, the girl's eyes rolled back and she collapsed forward, barely allowing me time to catch her before she broke her bloody neck.

From where I knelt on the ground, cradling her head in the nook of my arm, I looked around at the boys who were in an even more fearful silence.

The sun began to creep over the horizon as my gaze turned down to this girl, Hedy, as the pen sunk back into her skin.

"See what you've done, greenie?" Gally fumed, taking a few steps toward Thomas who stood stock still, Teresa at his side. The other bricknicks barely stopped him before he pummeled the greenbean.

"WICKED is good," the girl breathed as she lay in my lap, causing Teresa and Thomas to go ridged.

"WICKED is good."

Next thing we knew, Thomas and Teresa were thrown in the pits and the girl was tied to a cot in the med-jack tent, with special emphasis on containing her arm. Several layers of cloth and twine covered her weaponous appendage.

There was no convincing Gally otherwise, and many ended up siding with him. Most, actually. Chuck trotted up to me in a humble but giddy manor. He'd barely been here a month, but everything had drastically changed. I was genuinely surprised that Gally hadn't turned on the kid for being the one who came up the month before Tommy.

It wasn't a surprise that the dinner bell had began ringing soon after Gally felt some sort of sick sense of security.

"Hey, Newt," he smiled, setting his tray of food on the table before him. I was also impressed with that. Even with the limited resources he had, Frypan can easily whip up some good grub. Of course, I hadn't touched a morsel, knowing that the greenies were being treated like dirt made me lose my appetite. But that wasn't the only thing.

"Why me?" I said under my breath, making the boy look up at me with curious eyes.

"Did you say somthin', Newt?" he asked, pausing from his meal.

"Naw, nothing," I said, shaking his question off. "I gotta go check something out, Chuck--"

"Gonna go check out the newbie?" he asked with a cheeky smile as I left him alone at the table.

"I'll be back," I told him, heading toward the tent.

"No need!" he called after me. "I've got somewhere to go, too!"

All the while heading toward where the girl slept, I couldn't shake the strange unfamiliar sense of familiarity from my head.

Did I know this girl? Well, not from this life, but my past? Was it possible that she recognised me?


	5. Chapter 5

**HEDY**

My head was pounding and when I tried to sit myself up, I quickly found myself restrained. My hands and arms were thoroughly wrapped in cloth and tied to the bed, and my legs weren't much better off.

What in the world happened? That should have been my first thought, but, instead, all my brain was screaming about was the fact that a long, dark thread of my hair was very close to my eye. I shivered in discomfort before trying to shake my head to improve my situation. And although the hair was away from my eye through my effort, my neck began to itch.

This would be a long and irritating experience.

When I heard something creak across the room, every sense honed in on the door as it opened, revealing a strawberry blonde boy holding a tray of food.

He seemed to be surprised that I was awake.

"Hi," I said bluntly, trying very hard to hide my discomfort.

"Hi," he said, making his way to the side of the bed, slowly. "Do ya want somethin' to eat?" he asked.

"That'd be a little . . . " I attempted to wiggle my secured shoulders and laughed. "That would be difficult."

"Oh. Yeah . . . I'm sorry about that. You cave us quite a bloody scare in the Homestead earlier," he ran his hand through his hair. "It's got the boys a bit unnerved."

"Could you untie me?" I asked, earning a look of fearful surprise from him. I turned my head from him to stare straight up at the roof, barely able to stifle my urge to ask him to itch the back of my neck for me, if he wasn't going to let me up.

"I don't think the boys would object to letting the newbie eat . . . unless you have to, uh, have to--" I realised what he was trying to say and I burst into laughter, he chuckled as well.

"I don't have to use the bathroom, if that's what you're trying to imply," I said with a smile. "I do however, have a wickedly bad itch on the back of my neck, not to mention the fact that I am starving," the boy seemed to relax, his eyes softening.

"I'll have to retie you afterward, but I'll free you for now," I'm glad he trusted me, in the least. Whatever happened, I'm sure it had scared all of them. It had certainly scared this boy. I felt a slight instinct telling me what I should do once I was free.

Knock out the boy, untie your legs and escape into the maze.

I ignored it. Because, for a reason that I didn't quite understand, I too trusted this boy. Maybe even with my life. And heck, I didn't even know his name.

 **NEWT**

It was noon, the day after the disastrous night and the second day I'd taken the girl food, seeing as Gally didn't want any three of the greenies fed. Looks like he'd officially taken over the whole 'leader' position for me. Minho and Chuck found discrete times to slip some food into Thomas and Teresa's pit, and I took care of the girl. I'd brought her breakfast and organised for Minho and Chuck to help Tommy and Teresa, lunch was more difficult, but we managed, somehow.

I gazed at the girl. Long, dark hair cascaded over her petite shoulders in beautiful ringlets. Her hollowed cheeks and brown eyes shown brightly in the noonday sun. It was a wonder, this girl. I really did feel like I'd known her, much longer than I'd ever thought possible. Maybe we had known each other in our past lives, I just couldn't shake that feeling.

She ate sheepishly at first, taking small bites off of my tray before her hunger overpowered her. She shoveled another spoonful of mashed yams into her mouth and moaned at the taste. Yams were my favorite as well.

It had only been about four hours since I'd brought her food the first time and left without any real conversation having happened. And this time didn't seem much different, except for the fact that she seemed more comfortable, eating freely. I was just glad that she was eating at all.

"I guess that whole superpower thing's got you ravenous, eh?" I chuckled, making her cheeks redden a bit before she swallowed, cleared her throat and looked me dead in the eye.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced, yet," she said. "My name is Hedy," she beamed.

"Th'name's Newt," I said, holding out my hand for her to shake. Her smile faltered as her hand neared mine, and she nearly moved it back to her lap. "Come on, then," I said, taking the initiative and pulling her hand toward me. I shook it for a good long second before it happened.

We gasped at the same time as images flooded over our eyes.

Images of our past.


	6. Chapter 6

**HEDY**

I was running through the halls, pure panic terrorising my whole being. They were going to take him. They were going to take all of them. They'd told me that I'd have months before he was sent into the maze. Not hours. Not now. They'd soon wipe his memory and he'd leave my side until the last days. Years from now.

I rounded the corner, nearly taking out a nurse as she dropped the stack of papers she was holding and I bounded over her.

He'd be in the labs, by now.

I just needed more time.

I crossed the main hall and the beige walls of the living quarters transformed into the sterile white walls of the medical hall. Room 250, I knew it well.

I had barely made it to the doorway when a hand lashed out, grabbing me from a crevice of darkness and yanking me to them. I would have let out a scream if Newt hadn't covered my mouth with his.

Hot tears streaked my face and I held him tightly for the longest minute of my life. But it was cut short by Dr. Paige clearing her throat.

"It's time, Newt," she said, only making me squeeze him tighter.

"It's okay, Hedy--" Newt began, but I interrupted him with a muffled 'no'.

"We're going to save the world, Hedy," Dr. Paige said from behind me. "You need to let him go, for now. You'll be reunited sooner than you think," and with that and a prick of pain in the back of my neck, the world faded away and I collapsed into Newt's arms.

"Soon, Hedy."

"Soon."

 **NEWT**

I wiped at the streaks of tears on her unconscious face. It would be several years before I would see her again, but it wasn't like I'd remember her, anyways. I think that is what hurt the most. I knew what I was getting into, but I didn't know if I would get out of it. My biggest fear was the fact that I might never see her again. I was supposed to be the third to go up, but they decided to send a group of us.

I admit that that was better than having someone aloe in the maze for a month, but that really cut down my time.

I nodded my head reluctantly and Dr. Paige's guards carried her away. I watched her go, mesmerised by the repetitive sway of her dark locks. And then they turned the corner and she was gone.

"Newt, are you ready?" Dr. Paige asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I mumbled, still looking after where Hedy had been taken. Even as they guided me into the lab and I lay down on the surgery table, I thought of her. Hedy. Hedy, I'd remember you with every fiber of my being. They lowered the machines over my head and my eyes slid closed as the chamber filled temporarily with sleeping gas.

All the while, I pictured only her face. The face of the girl I'd loved since the day I came here and began working with WICKED. It was for the greater good I tried to tell myself, my heart breaking and my mind fogging up. I'll do it for the good of the world. My world. My Hedy.


	7. Chapter 7

**HEDY**

He pulled his hand away even as more memories poured into my head. Being raised by the people who put us in a maze with monsters. Befriending every person in the glade before their minds were wiped. Even falling in love.

After the images cleared and my mind fogged up, all I could do was stare at his face. How could I have forgotten him? How could I forget the person who held me together at my seams. My glue.

A flash of red caught my eye just behind his head and I instinctively raised my hand, a small weapon firing from my arm and catching the thing in place. Newt let out a surprised gasp, his face screwing up in fear and confusion before he realised that the attack wasn't meant on him. He looked behind him at the writhing creature now run through by a silver stake, pinning it against the beam that supported the tent.

"You trapped a bloody Beetle Blade!" Newt exclaimed, half in awe and half in fear.

"Could you hand it to me?" I asked, some odd sensation to examine the thing taking over. He did as I asked and brought the thing forward, an odd fascination consuming his confused look as he dropped the wriggling thing in my lap. I didn't order it, but a tool fell out of my arm and onto my lap, rolling toward the thing before I caught them both in each hand.

I used it to pry a small panel off of the belly of the beast and a small paper fell out before the thing crackled and sparked and quit moving.

On the small note it said: mind the patterns, the Maze is the only safe place now.

Newt read it over my shoulder before footsteps outside put him into a panic. He tied my arms as fast as he could and swiped the Beetle Blade under my cot before motioning over his eyes for me to pretend that I was asleep. I closed them, mostly, allowing a small sliver of my vision to lock onto the door as Gally and his lackeys waltzed in.

"What're you doing in here, shank?" He asked, the cockiness in his voice practically dripping out of his abnormally large nose.

"Just checking that she was all good 'n tied up. Don't want another Greenie escaping into the Maze, now do we?" I could feel the sarcasm thick in his voice, but the others didn't seem to notice. I guess that was due to the fact that I remembered a fraction of my past, and he was quite close to me back then.

Gally nodded, seemingly convinced that he was in charge here. "Frypan told me you came this way," he said. "I just wanted to talk to you about what's going down tonight," I barely saw Newt nod before they all headed out. Newt was smart, bringing them just outside where I lay to talk 'in private'.

"We can't let those things get in again, we have to do something, so I propose we perform a banishing. With all three of them," I sensed a hint of fear densely covered with pride in his voice.

"Gally, we can't--"

"We don't have any other choice, Newt," Gally interrupted.

"Have you told the boys?" Newt asked him slight anger hinted in his british drawl.

"Only those who need to know," Gally replied. Then I heard shouting in the distance and the boys outside grew quiet.

"What's going on over there?" Gally called.

"Thomas and Teresa! They're gone!" Another boy called in reply. Gally muttered curses under his breath before turning. I heard him take two steps before Newt's figure was slammed against the wall.

"Did you do this?" Gally roared, earning a chuckle out of him.

"Even Frypan could tell you that I've been here since lunch," I could almost hear the smirk on his face before he added. "On guard duty."

Gally huffed and he and his lackeys stormed off. Once the coast was clear, I breathed a sigh of relief. "You okay?" I asked him through the wall. He chuckled again.

"As good as I'll ever be," the voice darkened over the last syllables of his sentence, and he continued, still. "I won't let them hurt you. I will never lose you again," and with that his footsteps led away from the tent. Leaving me alone once more.


	8. Chapter 8

**HEDY**

It was almost disheartening when I tried to force my mind to go back to the times before I worked for WICKED and I remembered nothing. It took me a while to realize that WICKED only showed me the memories that would further bond me to Newt, and that was what they thought I needed right now. I'm glad I got that, at least.

I was very glad that Newt had barely tied my arm restraints as I went to work on untying my feet. Footsteps outside made me work faster. The door creaked and a knife appeared in my hands as Chuck's face appeared around the corner. He only seemed half surprised to see my untied, and the knife in his hand proved that he was probably going to do the job himself.

"Were you the one who--"

"Yeah, we gotta go. Thomas has a plan," Chuck said, cutting me off abruptly. I nodded and followed him out the back, glad that there was nobody else here due to the simple fact that I'd healed them all, myself.

I followed Chuck into the dense woods before we emerged next to a little hut. Very clearly labeled on the door of the hut, a bright red sign read RUNNERS ONLY. I followed Chuck inside and was astonished to see Thomas and Teresa there, holding up their knives before realizing who it was.

"Hey, Chuck," Thomas said, glancing up at me with an unknown expression flashing across his face before his eyes focused back on his friend. It was strange, it was like the only person that I truly remembered was Newt, but I did remember the names and faces of the three others huddled in this shack. I just didn't know how.

I glanced over at Teresa, only to see her eyes burning into me.I quickly looked away, half in surprise and half in embarrassment. Why on earth did she look so angry?

I flinched back when I heard a stick break outside before Newt walked in through the door. I nearly tackled him in a hug and he laughed quietly before ruffling my hair, like he had back in the old days.

"We gotta go," he said, looking up from me as he addressed the whole of the group. We walked out, seeing many others outside, ready to go. Newt took my hand in his as we ran for one of the massive doors that would lead us into the Maze.

We ran for a very long time, and I found that Newt slowly began leaning on me as we ran. He had a heavy limp that I didn't remember seeing in the past.I tried not to think about it, not wanting to waste our breaths in conversation as we turned yet another corner.

Minho and Thomas led the way as we wound our way through twists and turns. I tried not to pay too much attention to the giant cement walls that enclosed us as we ran, but it was truly a marvel to behold. I couldn't picture any reason that these walls would have to be so tall. It's not like the Ivy reached far enough so we could climb the walls rather than run them.

We really were rats in a maze.

A bloodcurdling roar echoed throughout the walls of this trap, distracting me momentarily. Instinct took over me and I squeezed Newt's hand twice before tearing mine free. The transvice oozed out of my skin, and it was fully formed and functional by the time the group stopped, right in front of a massive cliff.

Wind swept my dark curls around as I turned to look for our pursuers. A griever, who'd tried hiding itself under an overhang of stone, is the first thing I saw. Aiming for the gold, I hit the supporting rock of it's hiding place, watching as the slab of stone fell, crushing the roaring monster as it landed with a crash. That meant that there were only two left, seeing as I'd taken out the rest of them on my first day.

I tried to ignore the many pairs of astonished and fearful eyes that landed on me in that moment.

Thomas and Minho tossed some vines from a nearby tangle of ivy right of the side of the cliff, and I almost laughed. What were we supposed to do? Propel down? Sarcastic and angry thoughts flooded my mind until I saw it. A couple feet out, the vines disappeared abruptly.

"This is the Griever Hole," Minho said, patting Thomas on the back. A hissing sound echoed up from the depths of said hole, and I knew exactly what I needed to do.

With the transvice in hand, I walked right over to the edge and smiled. I was going to jump into an invisible hole on the side of a cliff. That seems legit. I turned my head to the side, seeing Newt's worried face before I blew him a kiss . . . . and took the plunge.


	9. Chapter 9

**HEDY**

The harsh air whipped against my face as I free-fell of the cliff. I did my best to aim toward where the vines disappeared, and soon enough, I was through it and darkness enveloped me. My body jolted as it transitioned from nothing but air to slamming into a cement chute. I slid down what seemed to be a greasy, slimy water slide for another minute or so before the darkness turned to light.

The cavern that I slid into was dimly it, grimy and disgusting. Coated in foul smelling slime, I stood up, trying not to get sick, and I smiled up the slide as echoes from the gladers screamed down at me. But just as I was about to call up to them, I heard something.

My entire body tensed and the transvice beeped. Then again. Beep. Beep. Beep beep beep. Soon enough it was almost ringing like an alarm clock. I looked around frantically before the transvice finally stopped.

The cavern was dead silent. And then, a new sound came into play.

Whir, click click.

And I looked up just in time to see a griever drop on top of me.

 **NEWT**

I heard her scream and my body took over. I stepped over the edge and dived toward the hole, clipping my knee on the edge of its invisible barrier as I went through. I cried out in pain, memories of the day I jumped flooding into my mind.

I was much too scared to jump off the cliff, when I was younger. So instead, I took it upon myself to climb as high as I could with the ivy and just let go. I'd wanted to die so badly. I hated this place so much, and even as I loomed over the edge, something in the back of my mind screamed at me. Telling me--or--rather begging me not to jump.

So why had I jumped now?

There were no voices telling me to not. No people around me that urged me to do it. Bloody hell, I didn't even want to die any more.

So why had I risked it?

Why had I risked it all after hearing a girl scream? A girl I barely knew--or rather--barely remembered.

Then it all clicked. She must have been the one. The person who always seemed to whisper in my ear as time went on, the person who begged me not to kill myself. Her sweet voice, how could I not have recognised it earlier?

I snapped back into reality and excruciating pain coursed through my already previously injured leg, but I shut it down. I honed in on her as I slid to a stop in a spacious cavern below the slime slide. And I saw her. Fighting head on head with a griever, nonetheless. And losing.

Her device was nearly melted on the other side of the room, near me. And her eyes widened in horror as her eyes met mine and a second griever toppled on top of me. My legs crumpled under me as the beast bore down on me, its metallic limbs trying to hold my flailing limbs down as I stared at her.

The grotesque griever that held her down roared in her face, splattering her with its slime. Her arm reached uselessly toward the weapon that usually seemed so willing to come at her beck and call. But she stood in a still shock when it didn't come and the creature's arm wrapped around her throat. My own reaper's scythe bearing down on my neck.

But then our eyes met once again. I knew that it was useless. This is where we were going to die. I only wished that my life, or maybe even our life would flash before our eyes before it happened. The griever increased the pressure around my neck and I choked for air, still unwilling to take my eyes away from her. But they closed, against my will, as a sickening ripping sound echoed through the cave.

I expected nothing but pain, my blood gushing through some open wound the griever made on my body. But there was nothing. And that scared me more than anything. I peeked my eyes opened through the pain.

And the next time I looked at Hedy, a pool of blood had formed around her as the griever released its grip and began stalking toward me. I only wished I could call out for her. I wish that I could trade my life for hers. She was all I ever needed, now or ever. How could this have happened.

Hot tears rained down my cheeks as my vision blurred and my choking continued, my lungs screaming for the relief of breath.

The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness, was Tommy and Teresa sliding down the chute and shoving a spear through the griever overtop of me. The second one converged on them and I was gone.


	10. Chapter 10

**THOMAS**

Hedy lay motionless on the ground on the other side of the room as I speared the second griever. Making a move to go help Newt, I was abruptly shoved to the side as Teresa knelt beside him. I shook it off and ran across the room, kneeling down and checking the bloodsoaked girl for a pulse. There was none.

I glanced back, holding back the terrible feeling that tried to escape my throat. How would Newt feel? This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

That's when Newt's eyes flew open at max speed. His eyes practically glowed in rage when he spotted Hedy across the room and Teresa held him down. Before she new what hit her, her head knocked back from a blow to the face and he shot toward Hedy's weapon, now melted to the floor.

At first I was relieved, maybe he remembered something . . . and maybe that something would help her.

But that hope was short-lived. Newt halted immediately and stared in horror as the weapon began melding into his skin. It was nearly gone when he snapped out of his horrified reverie and threw what remained of the metallic liquid across the room before it had the chance to absorb into his skin, like the rest.

The weapon, or what was left of it, flew across the room and landed with a splat against her arm. Within seconds, it was absorbed into her skin enough that silvery slivers mixed with the blood that seeped through her clothing. It was then that the extraordinary happened.

We knew that her weapon could heal people, we'd seen it her first day here. What we didn't know was the fact that it could bring people back from the dead.

It went to work immediately, soaked up the wet blood from the floor and her clothes and sealing up her wounds. Within seconds, there puddle of blood that had surrounded her only moments before was gone, replaced with dry, crusty remains.

Newt was there in a flash, cupping her face with his hand as he brought her head to rest in his lap. I glanced up at Teresa, glad that our friends had a chance at life, but I received only a cold glare before the girl turned back to the tunnel and called up at the boys, urging them to come down.

Next, Hedy started spasming, surging really. The motion looked vaguely familiar, like what a person would do if shocked by a defibrillator. And, after only moments of that, the girl's eyes fluttered open just as the first of the boys slid down.

The first was Minho, who panicked for the first twenty seconds at seeing the limp body of Hedy. Newt pulled her further against himself as she began to fully wake up, and Minho wouldn't stop muttering about how he had already struggled with the death of one Hedwig, and that that was hard enough.

More boys slid down and stopped briefly to check in on the girl who had so quickly became their friend. And then there was Teresa, standing on the opposite side of the room, tinkering with a computer-like device.

We all jumped as a loud beep from the device rang out and a light filled the cavern. On the screen, there was room for six words.

A string of thoughts ran through my mind were gone as fast as they'd come. Teresa stood, shaking her head, staring at the blank spaces.

Then Hedy and Newt surprised us all.

In unison, they said the words, chilling everyone in the room to the bone. It was eerie.

"Float. Catch. Bleed. Death. Stiff. Push," Teresa's hands went to fly over the keyboard, but she froze, glaring back over her shoulder. Then she typed them in, one at a time.

And the screen froze on the last one.

She typed in the last word over and over, but the letters didn't appear. She glared back at Hedy before lashing out and shattering the screen.

The boys cried out in indignation, all of us sharing the mutual fear that that was our only chance at truly escaping the maze.

Our fears washed away as Chuck crawled over to the wall and grumbled something to himself before pushing something. We all started once again as a loud bang echoed through the room and a door opened.

And a person stood before us.

The figure of the woman who'd haunted my nightmares.

It was none other than Ava Paige, with Gally close behind her, white as a ghost.


	11. Chapter 11

**NEWT**

We all stood stock still as the two of them entered the room. Thoughts poured through me as I watched the crazed eyes of the boy who I'd known for so long.

Now he was standing, shivering next to the woman I knew from the glimpses of memory I received when I touched Hedy's hand that day.

What happened next was inexplicable. Gally stumbled forward, pale like every ounce of blood had been drained from his body. Then he lifted his hand and drew out a knife from his belt and threw it.

At once I stepped forward and drew my arm up the blade being caught by a silvery shield having leaked out of me not milliseconds after the knife had been thrown. It pinged off of the silvery substance like it was nothing, and Gally's face both lifted and fell.

Dr. Paige looked down and with a swift hand movement, Gally fell to the ground spasming.

"Seems like a lot can happen when you look away from your life's work for five minutes," the woman said under her breath.

"Yeah," Teresa agreed, her eyes dashing over to where Hedy and I stood.

"Well, all I can say is all things happen for a purpose, you all must understand that by now," It was quiet for a few moments after that. Every muscle was poised to defend and attack, and Hedy's weapon, no half-mine began oozing back out from whence it came.

A loud bang echoed through the little hall and a man stepped through with a grimace on his scarred face. Not a second later, a blade slid across his next and a war-painted woman became visible behind the falling hunk of dead man.

Without a spoken word, another blade lashed out and caught Dr. Paige in the chest. Clearly shocked, not one of us moved an inch as the woman who'd trapped us in this Maze took her last breath.

I looked at her, my arm curving instinctively around Hedy as the room fell silent from Ava's dying wheezes.

"Don't just stand there," the woman smiled. "We're here to get you kids out of this hell hole."

An alarm started blaring and the last of her words died out as she ran out the door. Having no other choice, we went around the two bodies lying motionless on the floor and followed the woman out of the room and through a series of winding hallways until we reached a door. A door with a bright 'EXIT' sign hanging over it.

"Well this seems too easy," Minho scoffed, barely out of breath. My leg throbbed, but it was like I felt Hedy's weapon seep downward as we ran. Maybe it'd be able to fix the damage I'd done to it so long ago.

The woman's energized face fell a bit at his comment, and, in seeing that, Minho finally shut his yap.

"A lot of my men died to get you out of here. So you better make sure that you're worth it," she said flatly.

"What? Wait-" Minho held out his hand, his brows creasing in regret. But the woman opened the door, only to be bombarded by an attacker.

"Crank!" She screamed, barely able to grab a knife before the crazed man snapped his teeth into the flesh of her shoulder.

The next thing we knew, the woman's blade sunk into her attacker's skull and he fell with a wet thud. She shrugged it off, and what most have only been a few seconds of struggle seemed to end it despair.

"I guess I'll turn then," she muttered. Shaking her head at the deep wound. "This is definitely not going according to plan."

"Tell me about it," a voice echoed down the hall from where we all stood. It was Gally, a similar gash to what the woman had on her shoulder displayed as a missing chunk from his right hand. And with that, he pulled Chuck around the corner and held a knife to his throat.


	12. Chapter 12

**HEDY**

It was instantaneous and I felt a whole new round of energy engulf me as the transvice liquid shot from me. Like my very own, self made throwing knife, the liquid weapon halted in midair in front of Gally's face. His eyes widened in terror and he dropped the knife.

Chuck took the opportunity to throw an elbow into Gally's nether regions, making the boy lurch slightly closer to the knife as Chuck ran to my open arms.

"Please," the frozen boy pleaded, falling to his knees. The knife followed his every move and I felt my brows furrow in rage.

But just as I was about to make the kill order, Newt rested his hand on my shoulder. The piece of knife flew back toward me and was reabsorbed. Gally still knelt in shock, and he muttered incoherently to himself even as we began making our leave, ever-so-cautiously.

"Don't follow us," Newt muttered as he led me out of the all-but-abandoned hallway after him.

And then we were outside. And we learned what Hell really looked like.

 **NEWT**

It was a bloody hell outside, the heat scorching my skin despite the fact that the sun was setting. Not to mention the fact that bodies were strewn all around us. Bullets having pierced those people from head to toe. And the ones who were still standing weren't much better off.

There were three people, and I was using the word 'people' lightly, who looked like they'd escaped from some insane asylum. The woman wore rags that hung loosely over her brown, sickly skin. The two men that accompanied her were worse off. Dried blood crackled over their skin with every movement they made. They were all sick, and they all had sickening, crazed smiles stretched over their blistered, veiny skin.

That's when they started toward us. Fear coursed through me as they got closer and closer. But it wasn't until after our weapons seeped out of our arms that Hedy and I heard a loud honk and the three nutters went under the tires of a rather strange-looking bus.

"Come on," the woman said, wrapping her wound with a white cloth she'd pulled out of her bag. She stood by the door of the vehicle, watching as each of us boarded the vehicle. Watching us all with a smile and a familiar look in her eyes: the look of lost hope.

And then Hedy stopped, standing next to her as I was pushed aboard. The boys got situated and I watched Hedy out the window, terrified that that woman was going to 'turn' into one of those crazy people like she'd said soon after she was bitten.

But then Hedy did as Hedy does, letting the substance drip from her arm and float to catch and spread over her wound. Within seconds she was healed and looking as if she felt much better. Moments after that, the both of them boarded the bus one after the other.

The woman had a wicked grin on her face as she slumped into her seat, craning her neck to see the place where her fatal wound was only moments ago.

"I guess you guys really are special," the woman said. "No wonder WICKED wanted you for their experiments. You guys are the key to the cure for the Flare."

"What's your name, by the way?" Minho asked the woman.

"Blaire," she said. "Blaire Bowman," she said once again, turning and shaking Hedy's hand rather than looking at Minho.

"I'm Hedy, but it seems that these 'creators' called me The Offering."

 _ **END OF PART ONE**_


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